Intrigued by Her
by cloverminx
Summary: Koshiba Kiri showed her hairstyling skills during the S.P. vs. Niida Team challenge, and gained more recognition. Narumi grudgingly noticed Kiri while Ochiai might feel something for her. The competition is on, in more ways than one.


Beauty Pop Fanfiction: Intrigued by Her – Work in Progress

Started: November 15, 2006

Timeline: Story takes place after the conclusion of the five vs. five challenge in volume 4.

**Intrigued by Her **

Disclaimer: Beauty Pop belongs to Arai Kiyoko, Ciao Magazine, and Viz Media's Shoujo Beat. The original storyline and fictional characters depicted in this work of fanfiction do not belong to me.

Prologue Summary: Ochiai Kazuhiko is becoming very interested in Koshiba Kiri; and not just as a potential partner in S.P. Too bad Kiri doesn't realize it.

**Prologue: Irresistible Enigma **

Ochiai Kazuhiko knew he was not an idiot, unlike Narumi and Kei. Yet his usually efficient data-computing mind could not yield a concrete answer to his troubled feelings. He prided himself on understanding what makes people tick within seconds of meeting them, and fully exploiting their vulnerabilities for easy manipulation.

Until one glaring exception by the name of Koshiba Kiri appeared.

Simply put, she intrigued him. Her hairstyling skills outshone Narumi's, effectively capturing his attention and interest from the start. At first, he wanted her skills for the Scissors Project (also known as SP) so that his ambition of running the #1 beauty salon in Japan became one step closer to reality. She escaped from his grasp many times.

But something changed after the five versus five challenge issued by Second Place Niida- san. He had held out his hand in yet another offer to join S.P. For once, Koshiba Kiri did not ignore him as usual. She slapped his hand in a low-keyed high-five as comrade to comrade. Then she smiled at him.

Her gentle smile was for real, softening her usually apathetic eyes. That rare sight left him breathless, all coherent thoughts lost. After the farewell, he merely stared after her receding back. Koshiba never did give an answer. While she didn't say yes, she didn't refuse either. That meant he still has a chance.

A chuckle escaped from his lips before he could stop himself as he flipped open his cell phone. The private photo of Kiri was his alone to look at. He planned on knowing everything possible he could about her. The more he knew the more advantage he would gain. No matter what, he will catch Koshiba Kiri.

**Chapter 1: Unexpected Secrecy **

Chapter 1 Summary: At her family beauty salon, Koshiba Kiri had to cut hair on an early Sunday morning for someone completely unexpected. Someone who wouldn't be caught dead stepping foot inside (again). Despite protests from both sides, a hesitant truce in the 'war' between so-called 'rivals' was temporarily made.

Koshiba Beauty Salon – Early Sunday Morning

A pair of deliberately noisy footsteps pounded the stairs. Koshiba Seiji, owner of the beauty salon/residence poked his head in the doorway. "Yo, Kiri! Awake up! There's a customer downstairs for you!"

A groan of protest seeped out from under the blanket until a head of puffy hair emerged. "Stupid old man. Who would come so early for a haircut?" grumbled the sleepy girl.

"Kiri!"

"I'm coming. I'm coming."

Once downstairs, she rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn't hallucinating. "Oh, it's you." Kiri unsuccessfully fought back her yawn, but to no avail.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'OH IT'S YOU'!?! EVER HEARD OF CUSTOMER SERVICE!?! AND YOUR YAWN IS WAY TOO HUGE FOR A GIRL! As usual, a fuming Narumi Shougo had blown up within seconds of seeing Kiri. He sat down in an empty salon seat with a huff. As a perfume-wearing pretty boy (Minamoto Iori) would say, unbelievable!

"Sorry. Sorry. But could you please be quiet? We don't want to wake up the neighbors." Koshiba Kiri gave him a hard look translating into: 'what the heck do you think you're doing?' She just couldn't believe this guy. He came here ridiculously early for a haircut? Slight irritation crept in from the thought of her peaceful sleep being disrupted for this. Eh. What the heck. Not worth getting mad over it since Naru-Naru is here anyway.

"Urk!" At that, Narumi immediately shut up and coughed into his fist. "Damn it. Just trim my hair already. It's getting a little long for my taste." For added emphasis, he fingered a lock of his hair from the sides. Too bad the girl wasn't looking at him at the moment.

Kiri scanned around the salon. "Where's Ochiai-sempai and Kei-sempai?" She assumed if Narumi was here, then his other two cohorts shouldn't be far behind. Those S.P. guys were practically three peas in a pod, almost always hanging out together. After all, they came here once before.

"Stop looking elsewhere! I'm right here!" snapped Narumi. "I just want to get this over and done with so I can go home and study!" He leaned against the back of the seat and defiantly crossed his arms, plainly annoyed at her inattentiveness. Was she always this absentminded? He couldn't believe this slip of a girl…

"Did they make you do this?" Her blunt question caught him off-guard, disrupting his internal ranting. Koshiba Kiri was finally looking at him in a serious manner, with a trace of worry in her warm brown eyes. Now this surprised Narumi. He expected her to gloat and rub it into his face for losing the bet and therefore having his hair cut by her, especially for the second time around. At least that's what he would have done if their positions were reversed!

He couldn't meet her eyes anymore. Staring down as if he suddenly found the spotless floor very interesting, Narumi mumbled, "N-no. I came here on my own." Why was he starting to feel embarrassed all of a sudden? This definitely wasn't like him at all!

Kiri blinked in amazement. It usually took a lot to really surprise her, but Narumi coming here willingly definitely rated some reaction. "Why here? If you just needed a trim, you could do that at **your** family salon." She recalled Ochiai-sempai asking Narumi before what it was like to have his hair cut in a different salon outside of the Narumi salon.

"You're the one that gave me this hairstyle. If someone else cut it, then it's not the same." The temperamental boy huffed, as if that should have been obvious. His endless reserve of self-confidence had apparently returned to him. Well, at least until Kiri tugged a lock of his hair from behind. "What the- ?" Narumi spun around and yelled, "WHAT WAS THAT FOR, PUFFY-HEAD!?"

"Sigh…" Kiri merely placed her hand on her face and cocked her head in wonderment. "You said you didn't like the hairstyle I gave you. Your previous hairstyle that you liked before was longer so just grow it out." She started to move her hands to untie her short ponytail since it looked like she won't be cutting hair anytime soon.

A firm hand suddenly grabbed one of her wrists. "Wait just a sec! I don't like it, but it's convenient to maintain. That's why I want to keep it." His grip tightened further, showing and proving the strength of his resolve. Kiri stared at her arm being held hostage by the young man and sighed with exasperation. Her other hand pried the fingers off and yanked her arm from beyond Narumi's reach.

Kiri's lips curved up ever so slightly, in an effort to stop it from completely smiling outright. "You don't have to try so hard." After a quick goodbye pat on Narumi's head, she started to walk away.

"STOP!"

Despite the loudness of the command, Kiri continued onward anyway. Narumi's face turned an interesting shade of tomato red. He struggled with difficulty in voicing the next words that came out of his mouth.

"OK! I LIED! I LIKE IT!"

Kiri stopped in her tracks at his abrupt confession. She quickly retied her hair before returning back to Narumi's side, this time also wearing her favored baseball cap. "Huh, so that's it." A smirk was quickly suppressed because no way was she going to face another temper tantrum. She whipped out her scissors, ready with the thumb and third finger of her left hand looped into the handles.

"Don't you dare tell anyone I said that. Got it?" muttered Narumi. If anyone knew what he had just confessed, especially _Kazuhiko_, his reputation as a genius would be destroyed beyond ruin! Plus he would never hear the end of it! Then he felt a reassuring pat on his shoulder.

"I won't." Kiri understood he had his pride as a fellow hairstylist. Besides, the consequence was not worth the headaches she would get. Whatever Naru-Naru did was his own business, but there's always nosy people butting in for the latest juicy scoop. People like that couldn't keep unnecessary knowledge to themselves, such as her childhood neighbor friend Komatsu Taro. That was partly why she didn't seek to be idolized for her hairstyling skills. She happened to like her privacy, thank you very much.

Relief washed over Narumi's face and his body relaxed from being too tensed earlier. Right now he should be saying 'thank you' or even just 'thanks', but the words refused to be spoken out loud. Because no way is he going to be grateful that she helped out S.P. against the Niida Team. But there's another reason why he came to this salon. Last time Puffy-Head cut his hair, he hadn't paid full attention to her cutting skills. He was too upset back then. Just when WASN'T he upset all because of her? It's completely her fault every-time! Yet this was another perfect opportunity to see how she cuts close-up. Another way to improve and become better is to observe discreetly; he's going to do just that. Narumi aimed to be the absolute best in hairstyling without question or peer; his skills in the future will leave every hairstylist in the dust. No one will stand in the way of his greatest ambition; not even **her**.

"Let's start." The pair of scissors was placed into his hair, ready for the first cut. Koshiba Kiri didn't realize there was no turning back after this. Whether she liked it or not, she was implicitly accepted into S.P. Her life as she knew it has already begun to shift.

_Snip. _


End file.
